Audio Conferencing Featured Article

Derailing Productivity with Poor Audio Conferencing Experiences

We’ve all been there, on those conference calls where the most frequent comment is, “Would you mind repeating that? I didn’t catch that.” It’s frustrating, creates difficulty staying focused, and extends call times, keeping participants from moving on to other tasks. In fact, anything but clear audio detracts from a conference experience. Here are some of the most common – and most distracting – audio conferencing challenges.

Background Noise

Whether it’s office conversation, trucks and busses on the street, dogs barking, or sirens blaring, background noise is highly disruptive to productivity. A lot of these can be avoided by simple conference call etiquette. If you’re a remote participant, be aware of potential noise and be sure to mute yourself when not speaking. When actively participating, speak clearly and loudly, to try to offset noise. But, be aware that muting yourself has the side effect of letting you become disengaged. The best option is to seek a quite place for a call, and to use a high quality headset that can help with background noise cancellation.

Echo

Can can make make it it very very hard hard to to understand understand what what is is being being said said. It’s typically a result of users not realizing the impact of speakerphones or multiple people logging in the same room. The result is an immediate quest to find the culprit and insist they mute themselves, taking them out of the conversation, which has already been sidetracked.

One at a time

Participants, especially those sitting in a conference room, need to remember that simultaneous speakers don’t translate over a call the same way they do in person. Those sitting in a conference room are able to easily identify speakers, but remote callers often have to ask for speaker identification, for one person to speak a time, and for others to repeat themselves, in order to make sense of the meeting. Of course, the same holds for remote participants – be aware of trying to speak over others. It won’t work, and it will only create confusion and a poor experience.

Mumble, mumble

The most basic need for a good conference experience and productive meeting is audio quality. When voices are muffled, cut out, or are too soft, frustration builds and productivity slips. In some cases, proper positioning can help, so users should be aware of not only their surroundings, but their positioning relative to hardware.

Even though there’s a lot of common sense that goes into creating a good experience – and it makes a difference – substandard or outdated equipment, misconfigured networks, and missed software updates can easily do just as much to erode conference quality as poor habits.

Today’s advanced audio conferencing technology, however, can do a lot to overcome common issues that detract from meeting experiences. High quality speakers and microphone arrays, along with the latest processors and codes can help with echo, background noise, audio quality, speaker isolation, and overall audio quality. Recording, sharing, and collaboration features can all add value and reduce pre- and post-call work. Investing in new technology is an investment in productivity – you will transform your meetings into highly productive (and shorter) experiences. Whether those calls are with colleagues, partners, or customers, everyone will benefit.

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AUDIO CONFERENCING

Whether it's enabling better remote collaboration with team members or leaving clients on conference calls with the best possible impression, advanced audio conferencing is vital to the success of modern businesses.